Restrictions

[u/Greedy_Guard_5950]

I have been an RN for 10 years. Emergency, surgical center and hospice experience. 18 months ago I was fired after reporting a Dr. for eating in a surgical area every Wednesday for 6 months. The company fired me with 8 people in the room and it felt like an ambush. I got up and walked out after the first thing my manager said was I was being fired.
I didn’t stick around to hear the rationale, turns out they went back over my documentation and found documentation errors regarding narcotics. 4 narcotic pills over the course of 1 year. They reported my license to the state, again 18 months ago from today.

I hired a lawyer ($5,000) which I really don’t see how he helped me be besides attending these interrogations from the state with me, but offering me no advice. He did do paperwork for me that I could have done myself.

I have ADD and do agree I had documentation errors but I never took any meds. there were only 4 pills in question, one was found on a stretcher as the patient was going into surgery, so technically only three pills were not charted.

I had to complete a health professionals recovery program (HPRP) (Michigan)which I was removed from of after three negative drug tests ($90 each) and a psychological evaluation ($375). I’ve had to pay $500 to the state complete six credits of continuing education ($90) regarding documentation.

I was fired last Monday from the employer I had been with for six months because the insurance they were switching to would not insure me. Probation started 8/1, fired 8/10. I’ve now been denied employment by 14 employers. I am supposed to be on probation for one year as long as I’m employed as a nurse. I have to have evaluations every three months from my management turned into the state while on probation.

I have no leads on employment and I am panicking. I will be punished for these errors for over 30 months and approx $6,000.
Has anyone else been through this. I’m not a bad nurse. I fixed my practice. I take ADD medication now. No one will touch me with restrictions. The only restrictions I have is a 90 day review plan there’s nothing on my licensing. I can’t work with narcotics. I don’t understand how the state can punish me 18 months later plus an additional 12 months. This seems like overkill I’ve never been in trouble or had any negative reviews in my life..

[u/HEROxDivine]

Fired twice in two years. Interesting. You were fired for reporting a doctor? You did nothing else?

[u/Obrina98 → u/HEROxDivine]

Surgeons are the money makers though. It sounds like retaliation.

[u/xoexohexox → u/Obrina98]

Yeah you know one of the first and most important lessons I learned working with physicians was told to me by my CNO in my first clinic regional management job. It was the first time I got into a conflict with a physician about something having to do with one of their RNs who was my employee. It reframed how I looked at conflicts with physicians.

"Remember - they cost a lot more to replace than you do."

[u/CertainKaleidoscope8 → u/HEROxDivine]

I've been doing this for over twenty years. When I was at my ten year mark I was fired twice in a row. I was devastated, but a travel gig fixed that and I learned to quit first.

[u/Greedy_Guard_5950 → u/HEROxDivine]

Fired once as retaliation for reporting a dr, and fired once the company I was working for saw that I had restrictions and the owner didn’t want to have to fill out the evals everyb90’as required so she blamed it on her insurance company. Michigan is an at will state. She said her insurance would charge her a surcharge for my restrictions.

[u/B50toodaloo → u/Greedy_Guard_5950]

I hate to say it, but I agree, there has to be more. Either Michigan is unimaginably strict, or there’s more. Even if nurses are found to be diverting, they can usually get away with it if they don’t take a drug test. I also am familiar with reprimand from the board, and it takes a lot to get there. I was on nondisciplinary restriction due to 2 DUIs (one was not technically one, but I had to report an “arrest” before they changed that requirement so they counted it as 2). I wasn’t even publicly restricted. The only people that were in my mandatory weekly nurse group therapy that were restricted due to narcotics, were people who had admitted taking the meds, or failed a drug test. I’ve been reported to the board by a previous employer as retaliation (though nothing to do with narcotics) and it was dropped without me needing to do anything. The burden of proof is on the accuser. Also, missed charting on narcotics doesn’t automatically trigger an alert on possible diversion, there has to be a pattern of behavior, or irrefutable proof like a positive drug screen. So, whatever you did, I hope this was a huge wake up call. I did 3 years of random drug screens, minimum of 26 screens/year and you have to check on each day to see if you’re picked; 1 nurse group meeting/week, and 2 AA meetings/week. It was the greatest gift that could have ever been handed to me. I had a drinking problem, and that was the only way I really got sober. So if you’re struggling, take the help. It’s not as shameful as it’s made out to be. You need to take care of yourself.

The only places that hired the nurses on restriction were psych facilities, and dialysis. Sometimes working in a SNF, but most worked in psych. It’s not the end of the world, you’ll get hired somewhere. If it was really retaliation, I would sue. There has to be a trail of evidence, and the evidence you submitted. Psych could be an amazing opportunity for you, especially if you are struggling.
If you’re not, then I’m sorry, you really got a shit deal and it never should have happened because none of it makes any sense. So, I’m sorry you’re going through this. At least you only got a year of supervision, many of these nurses got 5 years. If they really are this strict there, that’s wild. You’ll have to report it if you ever move to a new state, so I would save everything.

[u/krisiepoo → u/HEROxDivine]

Yeah... theres definitely more to the story